GTA 6 HDR on PS5 and Xbox: which option to pick, how to calibrate

On PS5 the HDR toggle sits four levels down, under Settings, then Screen and Video, then Video Output, then HDR. Sony names two options there and separates them in a single sentence of its support page: Always On converts everything to HDR output, including “games and apps that aren’t HDR-compatible”, while On When Supported leaves those same titles in SDR. So the choice only matters for SDR content: a game that outputs HDR gets HDR under either setting. Sony’s own definition of the feature is a higher contrast, meaning a wider colour and brightness range than standard dynamic range.

Calibration is a separate entry on the same screen, Adjust HDR. That is the pass that tells the console how bright the panel in front of it actually goes, and it is worth redoing on any set the console has never met.

Microsoft filed the equivalent one level deeper: Settings, General, TV & Display Options, Setup, Calibrate HDR for Games. Xbox Wire introduced it on November 6, 2020 as “a new calibration tool that will allow you to calibrate your HDR settings for games”. One more address earns a visit before launch night, Settings, General, TV & Display Options, 4K TV details, which queries the television and reports back what it will take, 120 Hz included.

The setting	The path, as the maker writes it
HDR, on PS5	Settings, Screen and Video, Video Output, HDR
HDR calibration, on PS5	Settings, Screen and Video, Video Output, Adjust HDR
HDR calibration, on Xbox	Settings, General, TV & Display Options, Setup, Calibrate HDR for Games
What the television accepts, on Xbox	Settings, General, TV & Display Options, 4K TV details
VRR, on Xbox	Settings, General, TV & Display Options, Advanced, Video modes

What the store listing declares, and what it leaves to the console

The Grand Theft Auto VI page on the Microsoft Store carried five capabilities on September 16, 2026, and five only: “Single player”, “Optimized for Xbox Series X|S”, “Xbox achievements”, “Xbox presence” and “Xbox cloud saves”. HDR10 is absent from that list, as are 4K Ultra HD and any frame rate badge. The PlayStation page, checked the day before, runs the “PS5” and “PS5 Pro Enhanced” labels and describes four machine features, Tempest 3D audio and adaptive triggers among them.

Everything above is therefore a console setting, upstream of the game. Whatever display menu Rockstar Games ships inside GTA 6 becomes visible on November 19, 2026.

VRR and 120 Hz at 33.3 ms a frame

Digital Foundry measured a 30fps output on the PS5 capture of the Extended Look on August 28, 2026, describing a game that “maintains its 33.3ms cadence with care”. At that rate VRR works below its floor: the PS5 window opens at 48 Hz. The arithmetic behind that sits in the guide to buying the screen, and where the 30fps figure came from is in the piece on Rob Nelson’s remark.

Hideaki Nishino, then head of Sony Interactive Entertainment’s Platform Business Group, described VRR on April 25, 2022 as a feature that “dynamically syncs the refresh rate of the display to the PS5 console’s graphical output”, switched on by default “if your PS5 console is connected to an HDMI 2.1 VRR-compatible TV or PC monitor”. One use for 120 Hz survives the maths. A 40fps mode divides exactly into that cadence, and on June 29, 2026 Digital Foundry called 30 or 40fps likelier than 60 on PS5 Pro. The three GTA V graphics modes remain the only such grid Rockstar has ever published.

The HDMI input that cancels the rest

Microsoft’s 2020 warning has aged well: “On some TVs, only specific HDMI ports support HDMI 2.1, so it’s worth consulting your television’s manual to see which of your HDMI ports support this.” The HDMI Forum puts a number on what rides on that choice. The Ultra High Speed HDMI Cable arrived with the HDMI 2.1 specification in 2020 and targets configurations reaching 48Gbps, and Microsoft ships one in the Xbox Series X box. Plugged into the wrong input, an evening of HDR calibration counts for very little on November 19.